Candidates for Mayor Tailor Remarks for Black Forum : Election: Some of the 14 contenders focus on education and the economy, avoiding the issues of crime and streamlining City Hall that have marked their speeches in the San Fernando Valley and Westside.

Pollsters and political experts have been insisting that mayoral candidate Michael Woo, the son of Chinese immigrants, has been wasting his time campaigning in the African-American community.

But at the first mayoral forum in South-Central Los Angeles, Woo proved the experts wrong. If applause were votes, Woo would have outpolled the opposition, including two well-known black candidates, who were among the 14 mayoral contenders taking part in the event.

“A lot of people tell me I should ignore the African-American community in this campaign,” Woo told a black audience of about 300 at the forum at the West Angelus Church of God. “They tell me the votes are really out in the Westside and in the San Fernando Valley. Some people tell me that African-American voters will never support a Chinese-American running for mayor of this city. Well, I say they are wrong. I say I will receive serious support from the African-American community because I have earned that support.”

Woo reminded the audience that he was the first member of the City Council to call for the resignation of former Police Chief Daryl F. Gates after the police beating of Rodney G. King. And he spoke of his support for an ordinance aimed at reducing the number of liquor licenses in South-Central Los Angeles.

Woo’s remarks, like those of several other candidates, were tailored for the audience.

Just as Woo has made no mention of his call for Gates’ resignation at several recent appearances before predominantly white audiences, he said nothing Saturday about his plan to raise property taxes to pay for more police. Nor did he mention an economic plan to streamline and consolidate the city bureaucracy, a move that some critics argue will lead to a loss of City Hall jobs, many of which are held by minorities.

Some of the other candidates also avoided the rhetoric about crime and the economy that have marked their speeches to Westside and Valley audiences.

Investor-lawyer Richard Riordan talked about the considerable investment he has made as a private citizen in computer labs for 300 inner-city schools. Contending that the campaign is about the issue of leadership, he asked “Where were you?” to a number of his opponents who held government office as the problems of crime, graffiti and workers’ compensation fraud grew worse.

But Riordan never mentioned his campaign slogan “Tough enough to turn L.A. around.” Nor did he talk about his plan to pay for 4,000 more police officers by slashing City Hall budgets and privatizing city services--a move that, according to members of his own staff, could cost a significant job loss for city workers.

City Councilman Joel Wachs described the centerpiece of his campaign, his proposal to create a network of more than 100 neighborhood councils that would give people a more direct say in government decisions regarding police deployment, planning and budget decisions. But Wachs did not repeat his call for breaking up the Los Angeles Unified School District even though each of the candidates were asked to address that issue.

Once again, it was Woo’s comment on the issue of the school district breakup that seemed to impress the audience most.

“I will be opposed to any reorganization that ghettoizes African-American kids and Latino kids in older overcrowded decrepit classrooms while other parts of the city have nicer facilities and better funding,” Woo said.

The candidates were asked frequently to explain how they would deal with the ailing economy and the plight of the poor.

Assemblyman Richard Katz said he would see to it that city pension funds would be invested in ways that would stimulate the production of low-income housing. And Katz said that he would require that city contracts favored firms that hired local people, paid taxes here and purchased goods and services from local sources.

Linda Griego, the city’s former deputy mayor for economic development, stressed her background as an entrepreneur who knows how to create jobs.

“I’ve been a small business owner. I’ve met a payroll,” she said. And she pointed out that when one of the other candidates sought to cut through the City Hall red tape and get a business up and running in South-Central after last spring’s riots, he came to her for help.

“When Dick Riordan needed permits for his market, he called me.”

Councilman Nate Holden, one of the two major African-American candidates, stressed his kinship with the audience: “I have lived the problems and I know what they are.” He said that his experience representing one of the most ethnically diverse districts in the city qualified him to handle the problems of a racially tense city.

And, parting company with Woo, he defended his belief that the school district ought to be split up, even if it meant that black children are educated in the black community.

“We want our kids back where we can teach them,” he said.

Lawyer Stan Sanders, the other prominent African-American candidate, said that as mayor he would focus on efforts to make capital available to minority-owned small businesses. Describing local schools as “the flash point” of race relations, he said he would propose a program of student relations to ease ethnic tensions.

Earlier in the day, at the California Afro-American Museum, eight of the top candidates appeared one by one before a panel of black leaders.

Organized by Councilman Mark Ridley-Thomas, the closed-door session was aimed at forcing the top contenders to focus on concerns important to African-Americans.

During a break in the questioning, Danny Bakewell, president of the Brotherhood Crusade, argued that the group was being too cordial to the candidates.

“This should not be a polite situation because it’s not polite in the African-American community right now,” he said. “There is despair, there is hopelessness . . . I don’t want to know what they say they will do for us when they get to City Hall. What have you done for us already?”

Staff writer Marc Lacey contributed to this story.